Patisserie Für Elise

Patisserie Fur Elise is located in the Yaletown area, and you wouldn’t really even spot the place since it’s situated in an area that looks like residential area. I’m not sure what the houses next to it are used for, but it’s essentially at a Victorian-looking three story townhouse, and there is a row of these houses.

When you step in, the right is the area for buying desserts to go. They have a variety of cakes, and of course macarons. The place is decorated with mini chandelier lights and gives a very girly and fresh feeling.

For customers who would like to sit down for afternoon tea, you must make your way up to the second floor along this flight of stairs. I love how everything is like a fairytale!

This was their window display on the first floor. Love how they have the Victorian-style dress, which the waitresses wore, and it’s like you’re at a tea party in the garden.

On the second floor, this is where guests can enjoy their afternoon tea with grand furniture. It’s perfect to have a girl’s day out, and I believe you can even book the place to host parties. They have another seating area tucked away at the back, so there’s plenty of seats for you to choose from to have some quiet chats with your friends.

They only have one afternoon tea menu with a pre-set menu and then a choice of tea. For $30, you get a choice of tea, a tier of savories, and a tier of sweets along with a Chef’s choice of a starter. I chose the Honey-Scented Tea, which is an award-winning black tea from Wuhe, Taiwan. It was described as rich and mellow, with a natural honey-like sweet aftertaste. I enjoyed it as it had a hint of honey flavour to it, but it wasn’t too sweet. J got the China Rose, which was a flavoured black tea with an aroma of roses. We peeked in her cute little teapot, and indeed there were rose petals. What’s unique is that they also give you a sand timer, and once it’s emptied to the bottom, it means your tea is ready. No need to guess how long we should wait. They also give you the cutest tea leaf strainer, which is shaped as a bird. The little details of their chinaware and furniture definitely wins a girl’s heart.

Mandarin Creme Brulee

For the Chef’s choice of starter, we were brought the Mandarin Creme Brulee. It’s got the creme brulee on the bottom, with a mandarin flavoured jelly on the top, topped with a slice of mandarin orange. At first, I thought it tasted a little odd, since I’ve never heard of a creme brulee with this fruit, but I started to enjoy it a few scoops in. The hint of tangyiness seemed to work with the sweet creme brulee. It was smooth and I enjoyed the jelly at the top.

Afternoon Tea

Our two sets of afternoon teas were presented on two tiers, with the top as sweets and the bottom of savories. Each item was carefully crafted and presented and looked utterly adorable!

A closer look at the savories… The sandwich was a Cucumber Dill Finger Sandwich, which was interesting since they didn’t put the cucumber between the slices of bread. Instead they placed it on top, and although it looked pretty, I had to dissect the sandwich and eat the cucumber on it’s own so it wouldn’t be too messy. To the right of the sandwich is the Prosciutto, Brie and Fresh Basil Sandwich. This was a mini croissant and I loved the combination of prosciutto and brie. The flavour from the fresh basil also complemented the sandwich really well. The hamburger look-alike was the Smoked Salmon Brioche. I found the brioche to be a little dry, so this one wasn’t one of my favourites. Lastly, there was the Bocconcini and Havarti Skewer. It’s got the two types of cheeses sandwiching a cherry tomato. I’m not a fan of tomatoes, so I didn’t exactly like this menu item, but I did enjoy the cheese. In the centre, there was the Scone served with a apricot house-made confiture. I’ve never been a big fan of scones since I find them too dry, so I can’t comment much on it.

At the top of the tier were the desserts! This is always my favourite part. I’m also usually starting to get full at this point, but desserts are a must eat! I’ve always got room for some dessert… Anyways, the brown tart is an Orange Dulcey Daisy Tartlet, which had a hard tart shell at the bottom and the middle was a caramel type mixture and topped with a piece of pistachio. The green little square was a Mini Green Tea Chocolate Ganache with Red Beans. When I heard the name, I got extremely excited since I love green tea desserts. I think my expectations were set too high, because it ended up being quite disappointing. I found the texture to be too rubbery and the chocolate ganache just didn’t melt in my mouth. I was imagining some smooth chocolate just melting as I place it in my mouth, but that unfortunately didn’t happen. It was too sticky and gooey and stuck to your mouth. The pink dessert was a Mini Fur Elise, which is a strawberry mousse cake. I enjoyed this as it was light and not too sweet. And the white square was a Blueberry Cheesecake, although the menu said Lemon. It was a cheesecake square with a dented well in the middle and it was filled with some blueberry sauce so it would spill when you cut it in half. This was smooth and light as well. Delicious! And last but not least, we were a Macaron each, and I think I had the caramel one. It was decent, but definitely small in size. I think J has a lemon one.

To be honest, I felt that the service was lacking here. There were only two girls working, but it wasn’t that food was coming out slow. It was their attitude. They seemed so serious and didn’t really initiate much conversation, which I would’ve expected at an afternoon tea shop. They barely even smiled and I almost felt silly smiling back at them when they just had a serious look on their face. It kind of ruined the experience, but the menu items themselves were decent at an average price. What really makes up for everything is the awesome decor which isn’t found at many of the other afternoon tea shops. This one was unique and it made you feel special.